R9D26 – Balance And Power, Phase 2 And Standing Desk Update

I’m going to start at the end first.

It’s not pretty, but click on the graphic to the left to see some interesting stats.

It’s been almost 7 months that I have been standing at my desk at work. There are a couple of things I have noticed that are a bit of a surprise to me.  First I think I am getting more work done. I don’t know if it is because I feel more alert and mentally active due to being physically active but whatever it is my productivity seems to be up. I have noted before that it’s “easier” to wander off and do things and that is no joke. Whenever I am home watching the TV or forced to sit during meetings I develop an aversion to getting up. It’s like the chair gets hold of me and drains my will to live. At least when I am standing at work it feels like I am ready to go do something, whatever it may be and that has had an effect on my mental outlook. I find myself more helpful, more willing to go out and assist with things, possibly because I don’t feel like I am glued to my desk but rather hovering near my desk in preparation for something to do. My posture, including my back ache is much improved and for someone with my history of back problems that is reason enough to maintain my standing. My leg ache was gone after a few days, I don’t have any issue doing my workouts in conjunction with standing and even though I thought my traps and shoulders would be a big problem, that issue never developed. I find that I do unconscious active stretching throughout the day and that helps to keep things moving. It’s been a major change to my work habits, but I think it has been a positive one. 2 weeks ago I had to spend 2 full days in a Kaizen event for work and sitting all day made me irritable and twitchy, I stood up whenever I could but it made me miserable to be in a chair all day. By the end of the second day I knew I had made the right decision to remain on my feet. You should try it, it’s not as tough as you may think. People may think it’s weird, but that’s OK, working out every day is weird to some people too. I am not the only one either, there are plenty of people here, here and here that are enjoying the benefits and some ingenious ways of building the desk here and here too.

(Who uses standing desks?) More people than I’d realized, especially techies! Former Twitter developer and founder of BankSimple Alex Payne. Creator of Instapaper Marco Arment. Podcaster extraordinaire Dan Benjamin. Novelist Philip Roth. Former U.S. Secretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld. Lifehacker editor Jason Fitzpatrick. Now, newly, my fellow San Diego techie Mitch Wagner. Who else?

Balance and Power is a workout that I have come to enjoy. I am a fan of balance work and I think this particular session does a great job of balancing the strength aspects with the coordination work to give a good all around workout. It’s not developing strength, but it’s developing the supporting mechanical systems to promote strength. I really enjoy it, it’s too bad it’s over for a while.

Phase 2 will start this week. I have bootcamp to lead Monday and Wednesday and I may try to kick off Chest+Back+Balance on Tuesday since my bootcamps this week are bodyweight then cardio. I am ready for phase 2, the building phase was good but I am eager to add some more challenging weight work to my schedule and kick it into high gear. I am a little frustrated with using my indoor chin up bar but there’s not much I can do. It will be above zero all week this week , so I may actually go out onto the deck whenever pullups are on the cards. I am fortunate that this winter has been mild so far and I really should have taken advantage of it more by getting out there. I did bring my gym rings indoors too and I should find a place to hang them. Lots to do!

 

R7D25-7 – End Of Rest Week. Bring The Pain.

Probably since it was rest week and the pressure to perform was off I managed to do some satisfactory workouts this weekend. Friday I was able to crank out a 30 minute RKC workout with 5 ladders (34543) and some swings, one arm swings, clean and press and some snatches. Not having to worry about the ceiling made a huge difference as did being able to drop the KB if I needed to on the grass. Working out in the outdoors really does rock! Saturday we had poutine again from Larry’s Chip Truck and I have to say they were not as good as the ones I had at RIV the day before. With all those carbs in my system I decided it was best to get somthing done so I did the following:

100 pullups
100 box jumps (24″)
100 Push Ups

In addition to being active all day and out in the fresh air, this made for a perfect weekend from a physical perspective. Sunday was the 5 hour drive back home and that was always going to be the day off!

This week it’s the start of phase 2 of my mashup as follows:

4×3 Clean and Press Ladders Plus Dice Roll Snatches
Chest, Shoulders & Tris, Ab Ripper X
4×3 Clean and Press Ladders Plus Dice Roll Snatches
Speed and Agility
Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Plyometric Cardio Circuit
FOY Yoga With Tony

5×3 Clean and Press Ladders Plus Dice Roll Snatches
Chest, Shoulders & Tris, Ab Ripper X
5×3 Clean and Press Ladders Plus Dice Roll Snatches
Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs
Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Vertical Plyo
FOY Yoga With Tony

5×3 Clean and Press Ladders Plus Dice Roll Snatches
Chest, Shoulders & Tris, Ab Ripper X
5×4 Clean and Press Ladders Plus Dice Roll Snatches
Speed and Agility
Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Pure Cardio
Yoga X

3×3 Clean and Press Ladders Plus Dice Roll Snatches
Core Synergistics
3×3 Clean and Press Ladders Plus Dice Roll Snatches
Cardio Recovery
Core Synergistics
Cardio Core and Balance
Yoga X

I also realized this morning that I didn’t post the workout sheets online so here they are, the log sheets for P90X.